coaching

The beauty of team work in sports: organizing meets is a very specialized occupation

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I have been the president of a national powerlifting organization in a powerlifting and ethics-unfriendly country. Our organization never really grew: the corruption tradition was so strong that the IPL/USPA project could hardly be understood by people who were already lifters. Our chance were the newcomers. I didn’t have the time: I moved away. I […]

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How to fix your bench press – part 3: Programming Issues and Assistance Work (EliteFTS collection)

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1. The setup 2. The execution 3. Programming and assistance work   This is the third and last part of this series on how to fix your bench press. Let us start by repeating one of my half a dozen favorite sayings in powerlifting coaching: “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” This said, understand

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Recovery from Chaos 1: on the nature of the beast and facing it

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“Recovery from Chaos” is a series that I am doing basically through short video posts on my Instagram/Facebook page. I shared it here, on my wall, so that you have an idea what it is. I took this small project after having to give up the meet preparation I was doing: too injured, too chaotic,

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Guidelines to send news/material to my content production at Powerlifting Watch in case I don’t find you first

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DISCLAIMER: you don’t HAVE to do this. I try to comb the web as best as I can to find you. However, if I don’t and you wish to be part of one of the series bellow, please download the files and get back to me. I have much interest in your content and maybe

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Adults afraid of squatting with the bar: you and the rest of the world, don’t worry

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To my dear friends just starting their journey   This is just a note to my many friends, and students’ clients who are afraid of squatting with the bar for the first time. I have some words for you: I understand you are frustrated and I am with you on your quest. I’m here if

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“Just powerlifting” X “Passion” – time to take a breath and understand what “the other” is saying

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I might be playing the mother-figure here in saying both are right and that you possibly agree more than not. Most people who know me also know that I belong to the second class for a very strong reason: it was the accidental discovery of powerlifting that saved my life. I abandoned an academic career

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“Stuff from everyday” – where does fun come into the training routine?

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A recent post from Alexander Juan Antonio Cortes about training routine structure and rationale for exercise choice, which I hope he expands into a full article, got me into a train of thought. I remembered the wrap-up session of one of the “powerlifting 5” courses, which is actually not powerlifting, but “grip training” (they are

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Questions I receive – an example of users’ entitlement and abuse

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Questions I receive – an example worth sharing for many (bad) reasons   (I have corrected punctuation and grammar errors and translated in readable form: it was originally in bad Portuguese) Question: “Hello Marilia, I would first like to congratulate you because I think you are one of the best female Brazilian powerlifters. You have

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Into the mind of the coach: Richard Ficca

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(Read the other interviews – links at the project’s page, “Into the mind of the coach“) Please tell us something about yourself: where and when were you born and places you lived. Where do you live now? I was born and raised in Tampa, Florida.  Between college and the US Military I have also lived

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Recharge batteries, clear my mind, sharpen my tools and enjoy freedom: five months in the USA – part 2: a strategy is born

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If you read part 1, you are probably screaming at the screen: “get out of this shithole, for god’s sake!”. Three of my doctors agree with you. One straightforwardly said that during the last years, he never saw me clinically compromised, but that now I was. That it was time for a sound, true break

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